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KnowledgeLand
KnowledgeLand is a game released by Knowledge Adventure in December 2, 1996. It is not explicitly labeled as a JumpStart game, but it partially serves to promote JumpStart products. It is an example of an early massively-multiplayer online game, though it can also be played single-player. Gameplay The game's setting is an island called KnowledgeLand, which contains the JumpStart Grade School campus and the Brain Blast amusement park. The player selects an avatar character and explores the different locations in KnowledgeLand. By visiting locations in the JumpStart Grade School campus, the player can interact with demos of JumpStart games. The player can move their avatar around by clicking on the location or in the direction they would like to go to, or by using the arrow keys. The player's avatar can perform five animations: wave, jump, spin, fall down, and get up. The player can also chat with other players by using the Kidchat feature. The player can create dialogue boxes by selecting words or phrases from a list, which are then spoken aloud by a synthetic voice. Kidchat also includes a set of voice clips and sound effects. During the game's initial release period, special events would take place on certain days.JumpStart. (1997). KnowledgeLand Calendar. Knowledge Adventure. Archived February 4, 1998. Retrieved October 8, 2019. Knowledge Cards One of the main objectives of the game is to collect Knowledge Cards, and then sort them into hands based on shared attributes. Knowledge Cards are described in the game's manual as the currency of KnowledgeLand, and they contain information relating to various school subjects. Each card depicts a person, place, animal, or thing. There are two methods of obtaining Knowledge Cards: finding them around KnowledgeLand, and trading with other players. When a new player starts the game, a set of 20 Knowledge Cards are randomly scattered throughout KnowledgeLand. Each day afterwards that the player signs on, additional cards can be found in a concentrated area. These cards can be picked up by either clicking on them, or moving the avatar character over them. In multi-player mode, the player can trade cards with other players at the Trading Table. Here, players can offer up cards for a trade. The trade will only be made if both players agree to it. The subject of the card determines which of the four main categories it belongs to: Science, Nature, History, or Fine Arts. Some cards also have a Continent or Century attribute, if the card's subject relates to a specific location or time period. A card can have many subcategories as well. For example, a card about an animal may also have attributes such as "mammals" and "herbivores". To learn more about a card, the player can use the magnifying glass to get a closeup view of the card, which shows an image of the subject and a description. When the player collects Knowledge Cards, they will be stored in the player's Card Cruncher. When the player accesses their Card Cruncher, they can view all of the cards they currently possess. Unsorted cards will appear in the inventory shelf. The player can move cards from the inventory to the sorting shelves above to make hands. Each hand can contain a maximum of six cards. The value of a hand will be displayed as a certain number of points. The more categories that a set of cards have in common with each other, the more points that hand is worth. The player can choose to cash in a hand of cards to transfer those points to their score. More avatar options become available when the player's score reaches certain amounts. Once cards are cashed in, they will appear in the player's card scrapbook. Cards in the scrapbook can't be used, but they can still be viewed with the magnifying glass. Locations JumpStart Campus *'Toddler Building' - Contains a demo of JumpStart Toddlers (1996) which features the activity Give the Dog a Bone. *'Preschool' - Contains a demo of JumpStart Preschool (1995) which features the activity Pierre's Picture. *'Pre-K Schoolhouse' - Contains a slideshow describing JumpStart Pre-K. *'Kindergarten Schoolhouse' - Contains a demo of JumpStart Kindergarten (1994) which features the activity Hopsalot's Garden. *'1st Grade Schoolhouse' - Contains a demo of JumpStart 1st Grade (1995) which features the activity Serving Up Fractions. *'2nd Grade Schoolhouse' - Contains a demo of JumpStart 2nd Grade which features the activity Log Ride. *'3rd Grade Schoolhouse' - Contains a slideshow describing JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain. *'4th Grade Schoolhouse' - Contains a slideshow describing JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island. *'KnowledgeLand Library' - This area often hosted events during the game's initial release period. *'Lighthouse' *'Trolley' - Transports the player to the 3rd Grade Schoolhouse. *'Construction Site' - A non-interactive location that contains a sign that says "Coming Soon: JumpStart 5th Grade". Brain Blast Amusement Park *'Blast from the Past' - KnowledgeLand's history area. *'Spell-Binder' - KnowledgeLand's language area. *'Numerator' - KnowledgeLand's math area. *'Trailblazer' *'Art-a-Whirl' - A fine arts carousel. *'Gizmotron' - A science Ferris wheel. *'Sky Needle' - Contains an elevator and a gondola that leads to the KnowledgeLand Library. *'Supernova' - A roller coaster that the player's avatar can ride on. *'Island Hopper' - KnowledgeLand's geography area. Release Information KnowledgeLand was included as a bonus disc with the original 1996 releases of ''JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain'' and ''JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island''. It was also included in the original release of the JumpStart Grade School bundle, which included all of the original JumpStart Kindergarten through 4th Grade games. Gallery Screenshots knowland launch control.png|The Launch Control screen, which allows the player to select a game mode knowland sign in.png|The sign-in screen knowland character select.png|The character selection screen knowland map.png|An in-game map of KnowledgeLand knowland js1st school.png|Visiting the first grade schoolhouse knowland js2nd school.png|Visiting the second grade schoolhouse knowland js3rd school.png|Visiting the third grade schoolhouse knowland js4th school.png|Visiting the fourth grade schoolhouse knowland js5th closeup.png|Visiting the construction site Knowland_card_collection.png|The Card Cruncher Knowland_card_sorted.png|Sorting Knowledge Cards to create hands Knowland_card_scrapbook.png|The Scrapbook Promotional Images 0kl8_001.gif|The game's logo 0kl8_002.gif|An aerial view of KnowledgeLand knowledgeland map.gif|A map of KnowledgeLand Videos JumpStart Knowledgeland Single-Player|Single-player gameplay Trivia * A blimp labeled "KnowledgeLand" makes a cameo in ''JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain''. In the screen showing the outside of the schoolhouse, it will fly by if enough time elapses. *In a sense, KnowledgeLand can be considered a very distant precursor to World of JumpStart, another game to feature MMO gameplay. References Category:Games Category:Bonus discs Category:1996 Releases